About Olga Chernysheva

Olga Chernysheva, who grew up in the Soviet Union, finds meaning in the mundane as a writer, videographer, painter, and street photographer. Each of her series provides multiple riffs on a single theme, and Chernysheva possesses an uncanny eye for the cultural significance of small moments. In the series “Waiting for a Miracle” (2000), the artist photographed multiple female commuters’ hats from the same angle. Originally trained as an animator, Chernysheva now documents—through her various mediums—the shoppers and security guards, subway buskers and homeless people who live in her native Moscow. “Russia, for me, is a very fruitful interesting place to live,” she has said, “because everything at any moment is ready to be turned into a poetical image.”